Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC); landing on Cape Canaveral (KSC).

STS-82 was the second in a series of planned servicing missions to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The satellite was captured with the RMS. The crew performed several EVAs to upgrade the scientific capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

The first EVA was performed by Steven Smith and Mark Lee on February 14, 1997 (6h 42m) to replace the Goddard High Resolution Spectograph (GHRS) by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectograph (STIS) and the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) by the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).

The second EVA by Joseph Tanner and Gregory Harbaugh occured on February 15, 1997 (7h 27m) in which the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) and one Engineering / Science Tape Recorder (ESTR) were exchanged and the Optical Control Eletronics Enhancement Kit was installed.

In a third EVA on February 16, 1997 (7h 11m) the astronauts Steven Smith and Mark Lee exchanged one Data Interface Unit (DIU) and replaced a second ESTR by a Solid State Recorder (SSR). At last they removed an older Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) and installed a new one.

The fourth and final planned EVA was conducted by Joseph Tanner and Gregory Harbaugh on February 17, 1997 (6h 34m). They exchanged one of the Solar Array Drive Electronics (SADE) and installed some covers on the magnometers. After that they started to repair the thermal isolation on the HST - this was not planned, but the isolation was rather damaged.

In a final not planned EVA on February 18, 1997 (5h 17m) the astronauts Steven Smith and Mark Lee completed repairing work on the isolation.

After the successful work the Hubble Space Telescope was again deployed on February 19, 1997 and worked fine.